Cost of living - 2022!

[Bibs]

Ah, our "Making you feel better" service. That's £10 please

 

[New Emira]

8 hours ago, Bibs said:

£7.41 on electric and £13.79 on gas so far today

We have a 5 bed detached and have averaged £25 per day for gas and electric combined in December.

[910Esprit]

We have a stone built, solid wall house from around 1860.   Heated by a single small woodburner and 3 night store radiators.   It is without doubt much easier to heat, stays warm longer and always cosier than our modern construction brick house.   I guess it is much more efficient at capturing and storing solar energy in the wall stones themselves.   We always used to buy solid fuel from discount shops which was 2.99 for 10kg as long as I remember.   It is now typically 7.99 for 10kg   But you do have the option of scavenging wood from skips etc, which is always plentiful

[Bibs]

1 hour ago, 910Esprit said:

We have a stone built, solid wall house from around 1860. 

Same but I've been told it's an old vicarage from around 1800. 2 foot thick walls and single glazed leaded windows which are not warm!! The arched window used to be the front door I believe and it's been extended 3 times rearwards. We're also North facing with very few windows to the south. 

[C8RKH]

20 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

The thermostat one makes me laugh. Apparently we should be happy with 18C. Mine’s always been set to 20C. Trouble is the house rarely warms up enough in winter to get anywhere near that figure before the timer switches the heating off again. I’ve just been into our bedroom and the alarm clock thermometer is showing 12.9C! 🥶 

18c outside and it's shorts for me. That's an ideal temp but people have conditioned themselves to 20-23c. Bonkers.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

2 hours ago, New Emira said:

We have a 5 bed detached and have averaged £25 per day for gas and electric combined in December.

Bloody hell: if that continued throughout December, you will have used £775 worth of energy in one month alone! What’s your monthly direct debit set at?
 

In comparison I spent just over £1000 on gas and electricity combined in our 4 bed detached over the past year. That was an old EDF tariff which has just ended. My direct debits are now increasing from £84 per month to £236 per month, presumably minus the £66 Government rebate for the time-being. I am sure a lot of people will use far more than their direct debit’s worth of energy this winter. Be interesting to see how the energy companies react.

[910Esprit]

1 hour ago, Bibs said:

2 foot thick walls and single glazed leaded windows which are not warm!!

Nice - but happily we are not listed so have double glazing - it made a big difference to the original draughty single glazed units

[Dan E]

15 hours ago, Sparky said:

Combined energy usage as of 2135 today:  £16.39!  I've been out all day working in the fecking arctic, and it seems Tracy (and her lovely mother) have been spending my hard-earned on toasty kilowatts.  Will this be our first £20 day?

Sparkles pop around to mine the current situation is we need every single light on and the heating is flat out with the patio doors open 

[pete]

Ah but you have probably tapped off the street light. Am all electric and yesterday my biggest £7.50

[Sparky]

@Dan E Commander or wayward offspring?

[Dan E]

Just now, Sparky said:

@Dan E Commander or wayward offspring?

It is a combination of both, honestly i think they are trying to recreate the climate of Qatar for the game tomorrow. Luckily there is no mobile signal on any network where our meters are so we can't have a smart meter, so i live in a little bubble of not knowing, for a bit anyway. 

To be fair commander did mention that the washing is drying really quickly now so she isn't using the tumble dryer, so everything will be fine 

[Bibs]

I'm not surprised when the house is nearly 30 degrees!

[Dan E]

28.8 to be precise, going to see From The Jam tonight at the 02 normally gets a bit hot and sweaty but it will be a relief to cool down 

[Sparky]

Due to the MIL's dementia-fuelled obsession with washing, I now have combination locks on the washing machine and tumble drier.  Naturally, I have also turned off her radiator.  She moans she's cold whatever the ambient, so sheep/lamb...

[Dan E]

What you should have done sparkles is been clever like me when we done  the house I put a four zone heating system in with each room having its own stat that can be controlled via your phone and/or the very advanced control unit. This then enables everyone to put everything on flat out and open either the windows, the doors or both to regulate the heat. 

[Sparky]

You gave them access?  You fool.

[Dan E]

Only to the on and off button 

[Bibs]

I think that may be the problem! 

[Sparky]

@Dan E, would you like to buy some magic beans?

[Bling]

I just dress up warm 😁

[New Emira]

9 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Bloody hell: if that continued throughout December, you will have used £775 worth of energy in one month alone! What’s your monthly direct debit set at?
 

In comparison I spent just over £1000 on gas and electricity combined in our 4 bed detached over the past year. That was an old EDF tariff which has just ended. My direct debits are now increasing from £84 per month to £236 per month, presumably minus the £66 Government rebate for the time-being. I am sure a lot of people will use far more than their direct debit’s worth of energy this winter. Be interesting to see how the energy companies react.

In credit by around £1,500 and direct debit at £386 so it should even out. The house is occupied 24/7 and we are also running a hot tub so higher than average consumption unfortunately for me. 😓

[Bibs]

Grocery inflation has fallen for the first time in 21 months and the average house price is down £8k in the last month. Good signs hopefully that things are heading the right way again?

[Barrykearley]

Sshhhh @Bibs - whatever you do don’t tell the BBC

[pete]

5 hours ago, Bibs said:

Grocery inflation has fallen for the first time in 21 months and the average house price is down £8k in the last month. Good signs hopefully that things are heading the right way again?

Won't stop the &ankers put the rate up tomorrow 

[C8RKH]

Still need to react to bring the stuff down over the long term. t's not like a tap that you turn off/on, or a light switch either.

 

I've been out and about doing some family things this week, and despite all the dour shite on the news, people are still spending in the cafes, restaurants etc that I was frequenting.

Some people are having it very hard, some not so hard.

The good news is that the head of the nurses union has seen her pay package bulge by an extra £33k over the past 5 years to £197k (yup, for a union leader who is lecturing the country on fecking hardship!) whilst the average nurses salary increase by £3k in the same period. You could say she is doing a great job. For herself. Paid 25%+ more than the Prime Minister for fooks sake, and all paid for by nurses post tax at £16.50 or thereabout a month.

Amazing what you find when you dig a bit deeper, and realise that very healthy six figure packages are the norm for union bosses... Hey ho, "power for the people!" and we're "all in this together".

Head of Teaching union - £211k

Former Head of University an college union - £534k

TUC leader - £166k

Chair of BMA - GP's union - £193k

Royal College of Midwives - £168k

RMT head - £160k as of 2018!

 

Staggering that these people bleat on about the hardship of others when their packages are paid out of the pay packets for those they represent.